Many more people than establishment types anticipated are feeling the Bern.
Photograph: Brian Frank/Reuters

There is a decisive mood of resistance in America – a backlash to the status quo. The Bernie Sanders campaign for president is capturing that mood, and it is no surprise that ‘socialism’ was the most looked-up word in 2015.

The American youth of today did not grow up in the shadow of the Cold War. The vilification of socialist ideas by Republicans anyway only serves, if anything, to pique their interest. Coupled with that is the future most young Americans face: a low-wage job market, proliferation of student debt and an escalating housing affordability crisis. Since the Occupy movement, the dirty word as far as many millennials are concerned is not socialism, but capitalism.

There is deep anger against gaping income inequality and systemic racism. People are hungry for political alternatives that will serve their interests for a change instead of the insatiable greed of Wall Street.

Our city council re-election victory in Seattle, Washington, this fall is a powerful indicator of the prevailing mood. The first time our Socialist Alternative Party won, in 2013, the political and business establishment did not take us seriously. But we have shown that not only can a socialist win in the US, a socialist can drive the political agenda of a major city. This time around, big business and their political representatives mobilized a massive campaign against us, fueled with large amounts of corporate cash, disingenuous attack mailers, red baiting and red herrings.

Despite the fact that most Democratic party leaders backed my opponent, the majority of ordinary people who consider themselves Democrats supported my openly socialist campaign. We won decisively with 56% of the vote. We set a new record by raising nearly half a million dollars - none of it corporate cash - with a median contribution of $50.

In 2013, many people voted for me in spite of the fact I was a socialist. In this year’s election, many more people voted consciously for socialist politics.

The same shift has happened on a personal level. Only a few years ago at social gatherings, saying I was a socialist used to be a conversation stopper. Now, those same people are curious about what I mean by socialism and excited about the prospect of a fighting political challenge to the billionaire class.

With Bernie Sanders’s campaign, the number of people enticed by socialist ideas has increased far beyond Seattle. The avalanche of Wall Street and billionaire cash for Hillary Clinton has not been able to lower the crest of support for a socialist presidential candidate. Sanders’s campaign just made a historic milestone of having raised money from 2 million donors, with no corporate money and with an average donation of $30.

There are major differences in the history of socialist parties and ideas in Europe compared to the United States – it doesn’t have the sour tinge the term retains here across the pond.

But there is great anger in Europe at the vicious austerity and unemployment. Working people in Europe are searching for alternatives to failed and treacherous political leaders and parties. The support last year for Scottish independence among the youth during the referendum, and more recently, the rise of Jeremy Corbyn as a socialist to the leadership of the Labour Party, indicate that working-class people and the youth are looking for a way out of the dead-end of capitalism.

Millions are beginning to reject the rule of the billionaire class and increasingly looking to genuine ideas of socialism. Mass movements of working people will be the critical factor in leading humanity away from a world ridden with war, poverty, refugee crises and climate disaster and toward a society that can use the resources of this planet to deliver a sustainable and high standard of living for all.

This article was corrected on 19 December 2015 to clarify that Sanders has raised money from 2 million donors, and that millions of people are interested in socialism.